


how far away we roam

by flusteredkeith



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Universe, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, He just is, Hokkaido, M/M, Mistletoe, Post-Canon, Post-Defeat of Zarkon, SHEITH - Freeform, Sheith Secret Santa 2016, home for the holidays, in which shiro shows keith what home is, merry sheithmas, ski cabin, subtle ace keith but not really mentioned, visiting japan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-11 21:36:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9032900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flusteredkeith/pseuds/flusteredkeith
Summary: "I can't go back. Not without you."“Me,” Keith echoes back. The tiny spark of hope flares inside, threatening to spread, and his resolve to hold it back becomes a very thin line. His eyebrows furrow as he continues to stare up at the older man, trying to read his face. Feeling daring, he asks, “Why?”“Because,” Shiro says, his eyes softening, "no matter where I go, I wouldn’t be home without you.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas! Written for @sheithsecretsanta2016 and for Prince-ichi! Happy Holidays @prince-ichi! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Special thanks to my friends @dylogger and @shikoga for helping me beta; and to [@rhapsodyinpink](http://archiveofourown.org/users/rhapsodyinpink/pseuds/rhapsodyinpink) for title brainstorming and last minute revisions. <3)

Ever since he found out that it’s been December for a week on Earth, Lance hasn’t stopped singing Christmas songs for four days straight, much to Keith’s annoyance. There can only be so many times a person can handle hearing “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” before wanting to shoot his eyes out. Admittedly though, Keith would rather hear that song for the rest of his life than to listen to another off-key rendition of “All I Want For Christmas Is You” wherein Lance unabashedly butchers the high note at the end, every—single—time. Still, there’s something about the former song that irks Keith like it’s never quite done before and it isn’t until after leaving the planet Pothar one afternoon that he realizes why.

“Say, Allura,” Lance says once they’ve gathered together in the dining hall after parking their lions in the castle. “Have I told you how fantastic your hair’s been looking lately?” 

He drops his helmet down on the table and bats his eyelashes at her, a classic Lance move when there’s something he really—yup. Judging by the way Allura folds her arms and purses her lips, she’s picked up on his motives already.

“What do you want, Lance?” she asks in a monotonous tone, raising an eyebrow. 

“Glad you asked, Princess,” he says, sidling up to her and throwing an arm around her shoulders as the rest of the team takes their seats at the table. “Seeing as we’ve been doing pretty well after Zarkon’s defeat—you know, going around the universe, helping various planets out, all that defender of the universe stuff—wouldn’t you agree that we deserve a bit of a vacation?”

“Vacation? From defending the universe?” Allura asks, as though the idea were ludicrous. Keith has to admit there’s merit in her point of view. Being a paladin wasn’t something you could just _take a vacation_ from.

“I have to say, I agree with Lance on this one,” Hunk says. “It’s been ages since we’ve been back home and even though Zarkon’s defeat only happened like, three months ago, it would be really awesome if we could go back to Earth for a little bit.”

Earth. The thought brings to mind desert sand settling on dry terrain, the cold metal walls of the Garrison, and moth-eaten curtains that he’d never bothered to replace. After everything they’ve been through out here, there isn't really anything left on Earth that Keith misses. And besides, he thinks as his gaze falls onto Shiro, he’s already got everything he needs right here.

“Yeah,” Pidge pipes up, looking hopeful. “I spent so long trying to get my family back, and now that I have, it would be kind of nice to spend at least one quiet week with them.”

“And we’ve been good this year!” Lance adds. “We don’t deserve the naughty list treatment this Christmas.”

“Christmas?” Allura intones blankly. “Is that the nonsense you’ve been— well, what you’ve been calling ‘singing’—about all week?”

 _Ouch, burn_ , Keith thinks, trying but failing to turn a quiet laugh into a cough. He can feel Lance glaring daggers at him but, well, he can live with it.

“Christmas is a special holiday on Earth,” Shiro starts to explain before Lance can open his mouth to argue. “And for us humans, it’s one of the most universally celebrated seasons as well. It’s a time before the year ends where we get to be with our families. Don’t you Alteans have any days like that? Where you set aside time to observe a holiday and keep it sacred?”

“Ah, a celebration you say?” Coran says. “We do have the Golden Day of Jubilee where, to show appreciation for the things we’ve all been given in this life, everyone comes together and communes together as equals, sharing together in the joys and thanks-giving of our very existence. There are more of course, but off the top of my head—”

“Exactly,” Hunk says, cutting across Coran before his rambles carry too far. “So you know how important it is to uphold these traditions.”

“And hello? Vacation?” Lance butts in. “I know being defenders of the universe is a full-time gig, but even heroes need to catch a short break every now and then.”

“I—well, I’m not sure,” Allura says. She’s clearly torn between her desire to take proper care of the paladins and the duty they have in maintaining peace in the world.

“Pleeeaaase?” Lance and Hunk beg with wide teeth-bearing grins, holding their hands beneath their chins in prayer position.

“Just give us one week. From Christmas to New Year’s,” Lance says. “Then we’ll be back in no time.”

“We promise,” Pidge appends as Hunk nods vigorously next to her.

“Well,” Allura says thoughtfully, “I suppose one week wouldn’t hurt.” 

“ _Yes!_ ” Lance and Hunk exclaim as they jump up together with a triumphant punch through the air.

“Varadero beach, here I come!” Lance yells, grabbing Hunk’s hands as the two do a sort of happy dance. 

“We’re going home!” Hunk cries out, his eyes watery with tears of joy as they continue their victory cheer.

Yeah… Home. Whatever that is. It certainly isn't the Garrison, nor the old shack. As he contemplates where on Earth he would return to for their one week “sabbatical,” Keith realizes he has no idea where he would go. Shiro had just said that Christmas was about being with family. _Well_ , he thinks as he glances around the room at the rest of the paladins, he’s already with his family. A family that plans to leave and return to _their actual homes_ for a week. So where would that leave Keith?

He understands now why Lance’s Christmas caroling has been grating on him more than it normally would. The paladins may have become something akin to family, but they aren’t necessarily _home_. But what is home to him, if not Earth nor Voltron?

“Well, if that’s settled,” Shiro’s voice suddenly sounds in the room, breaking through Keith’s train of thought. “I’m off to take a shower.” 

Keith’s gaze drifts over to Shiro, who catches his eye and smiles at him as he exits through the dining hall doors. Although the moment is short, their familiar shared glance is all it takes for Keith to realize that when he tries to define home, Shiro is the closest thing to it that he can remember.

But Shiro has a home to return to, Keith reminds himself as he heads back to his room, and Keith isn’t going to be the kind of person that keeps him away from it.

* * *

Two weeks have passed since Lance convinced Allura to let them go back to Earth and while the rest of the team has been making preparations to leave, Keith has spent the majority of that time in the training room getting his mind off the whole thing. Mainly, he wants to avoid awkward conversations where the others discuss their plans and end up realizing Keith doesn’t have a place he feels strongly attached to. It’ll just bum everyone out. Besides, it’s not like he won’t see them again in a week.

Therefore on the morning before Christmas Eve, when Keith sees the others excitedly head down to their lions for departure, he turns and walks the other way towards the training deck with no intentions of saying goodbye, not even to Shiro—though Keith spares a sidelong glance at him as the black paladin follows Lance, Hunk, and Pidge to the lions’ garage. He takes a deep breath and tries not to think about it too much.

When he arrives, he starts up the training sequence and waits for the practice bot to appear in the center of the room.

Considering that Shiro never even had a chance to go back to Japan ever since he left for Kerberos, it didn’t surprise Keith at all that Shiro wanted to go home. They had all been through a lot in the past year—Shiro especially. If anyone deserves to go home for Christmas, it’s him.

He’s not supposed to be thinking about this anyways.

Keith keeps his eyes on the Gladiator as it emerges fully and fixes its vision on him. Lunging forward, he swings his weapon, losing himself in the clinking of their swords in an attempt to drown out the rest of the world.

The truth is, the idea of Shiro having a home to return to that didn’t involve Keith annoys him a lot more than it should. Rationally speaking, he knows he has no right to feel this way, but despite this, he can tell his anger is seeping into each block and strike of his sword.

He pushes on.

As usual, time seems to work differently in the training room and Keith has no idea how long he has been here. Not that he cares very much. He figures that when he’s hungry, he’ll stop and take a break. On most days, this means he could go on for hours.

Not long into his session, however, the practice bot suddenly slows down and stops moving. Keith tilts his head and looks around the room for the source of the problem.

 _Probably Coran_ , he thinks after the initial confusion ebbs away. He and Allura must have noticed that Keith was the only one who hadn’t left for Earth. He’s touched, really, but he’d prefer it if they didn’t feel the need to check up on his well being.

“Everything’s fine,” he says in a flat tone as he turns around and tries to keep his expression from rousing doubt in his Altean friends. “I just—”

He stops in his tracks when his gaze ends at the entrance of the training deck. It's neither Coran nor Allura.

“If you spend any more time in here,” Shiro says, walking towards him, “you might as well move in with the bot.” 

Keith withdraws his bayard and stands up straighter to face Shiro. A faint spark ignites in him at the sight of the older man but he tries to contain it. It borders too closely to hope and he’s not sure he wants to indulge in it. Given their track record, he has very good reasons not to.

“I thought you’d gone home with the others,” Keith says as Shiro comes to a halt in front of him. “Unless you’re here to say goodbye.”

“Now that you mention it,” Shiro says, folding his arms. “I _am_ a little offended you hadn’t planned on coming to say goodbye.”

Keith shrugs. He isn’t sorry about it.

“Especially if I _were_ leaving,” Shiro adds, giving Keith a pointed look.

Keith blinks, confused.

“You—you’re not—? But you said—” he breaks off, trying to pinpoint where in the conversation Shiro had said he was leaving with the rest of the paladins. _Huh._ His mind draws a blank. Now that he thinks about it, Shiro never actually confirmed that he was flying home. “But I thought if anyone wanted to go back, you would’ve. You of all people deserve to go home.”

“Well, so do you,” Shiro says.

“But I don’t have a home,” Keith mumbles, avoiding his gaze. _Not on Earth, anyways_ , he finishes in his head, recalling the feeling of their shared glance from the week before.

“You’re wrong about that,” Shiro says, uncrossing his arms. “Home doesn’t have to be a place. Just because you don’t think you have anywhere specific to go back to, doesn’t mean you don’t have a home.”

“You _have_ a home to go back to,” he says, starting to feel annoyed that Shiro was trying to play counselor with him like this. He of all people should know better than to try and pull that on Keith. “So you should go.”

“I can’t,” Shiro replies, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop Keith from turning away. Keith’s eyes rove over it for a fraction of a second before shifting back up to look at the taller man. “Not without you.”

“Me,” Keith echoes back. The tiny spark of hope flares inside, threatening to spread, and his resolve to hold it back becomes a very thin line. His eyebrows furrow as he continues to stare up at the older man, trying to read his face. Feeling daring, he asks, “Why?”

“Because,” Shiro says, his eyes softening, "no matter where I go, I wouldn’t be home without you.”

Keith knows there’s nothing he needs to say to communicate to Shiro that he feels the same way, so putting a hand on Shiro’s wrist, he pulls him in and wraps his arms tightly around his back. Shiro’s breath is warm on his neck and Keith smiles as he feels Shiro’s arms snaking around him as well.

It’s finally starting to feel like Christmas. 

* * *

Keith doesn’t remember the last time he woke up feeling this peaceful, but as he shifts in bed, the feeling of Shiro’s arm around his neck and the warmth emanating from his chest reminds him of happier days, and as Keith listens to the slow gentle breathing of Shiro beside him, he knows this Christmas Eve will join the ranks of exceptional days. 

Shiro yawns and blinks his eyes open.

“Morning,” he smiles. In response, Keith buries his head in Shiro’s chest.

“Merry Christmas Eve,” he mumbles. This isn’t the first time they’ve fallen asleep next to each other, so Keith isn’t sure why he feels the need to hide his face. With a soft chuckle, Shiro combs his fingers through his mullet.

“Sleep well?” he asks. Keith nods. He can feel the level thrumming of Shiro’s heart through his chest pounding out a soothing and steady rhythm. It’d be nice if he could wake up like this everyday, he thinks, and now that they finally have a moment to themselves with the rest of the team gone, Keith intends to fully treasure it this week.

“I hate to say this, but we should probably get up,” Shiro says. “Long day ahead. Ready to go?”

“Mm, not quite,” Keith replies, snuggling closer.

“Well,” Shiro starts, pulling the covers off of Keith, who immediately shrinks his legs in from the cool draft that followed. “Normally, I’d allow it. But seeing as we’ve got to make a trek all the way back to Earth…”

“Aw, come on,” Keith whines, his hands latching onto Shiro’s arm and trying to pull the older man back down. “Five more minutes.” 

“Please,” Shiro says, “I know what always happens when I give you five more minutes.”

Keith groans. He knows it’s true, so he doesn’t argue.

“Alright, alright,” he says with a big yawn. “I’m up.”

Once they’ve gathered their belongings and said goodbye to Coran and Allura, they take off in the Black Lion and vanish through the wormhole Allura has opened for them. As Keith looks back at the wide starry expanse behind them, it still feels more like he’s leaving home than returning to one, but as it’s a big deal for Shiro to be returning to _his_ home, Keith is more than grateful to be invited for the ride.

“So we’re going back to Tokyo to see your family, right?” he asks. He’s only just realized they haven’t actually discussed any concrete plans.

“We will,” Shiro says with a cryptic smile. “Eventually.”

Given the speed and magic of the lions’, they find themselves back within Earth’s atmosphere in no time. Keith looks ahead to see white snow-covered mountains shimmering up at them through the Black Lion’s display panels. Blankets of fresh powder glisten in the faint sunlight, achieving an iridescent glow the way sand never could. 

“I’ve never seen snow before,” he says, staring at the tiny intricate snowflakes falling outside.

“I thought you might not have,” Shiro says. “You’re in for a treat.”

“Where are we now?” Keith asks. “This doesn’t look like Tokyo.”

“Nope,” Shiro confirms. “We’re in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan. Home of the smoothest dairy and, of course, Sapporo. My family made a trip here once when I was a freshman in high school. By far one of my favorite vacations to date.”

Keith isn’t one to use the word “beautiful” often, but as they fly over hills, plains, and bodies of water, he has to admit that there is simply no other word for this place. Gliding above the surface of a deep blue lake, Shiro directs the lion upwards towards a forested mountain peak and within seconds, Keith can feel the black paladin prepare them for landing. As Shiro settles the lion in a snowy patch below them, Keith notices a cozy log cabin surrounded by bare-branched trees in the lion’s line of vision.

“Uh, we’re not landing in someone’s backyard, are we?” he asks as Shiro gets out of the seat and walks over to the luggage bags they borrowed from the castle containing—who knows what, actually. When did Shiro bring those anyways?

“First of all, you probably need some warmer clothes,” Shiro says as he pulls out a warm coat and a scarf and holds them out to Keith, who raises an eyebrow and eyes the clothing with suspicion.

“Since when did you have winter clothes just lying around in the castle?”

Shiro shrugs but Keith can see a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

“Okay, what else don’t I know about?” he asks.

“Put on your coat and come see,” Shiro says as he dons his own jacket and scarf and heads towards the exit. The Black Lion’s mouth opens up and a chilly draft fills the cockpit, causing Keith to shiver. Out of the desire to maintain a comfortable stasis more than anything, he quickly pulls on the coat Shiro gave him, wraps the scarf around himself, and follows him out into the snow.

Upon sinking his boots into the fresh powder, he sees Shiro a few steps ahead trudging his way towards the cabin and hurries to keep up with him. Simple and modest, the small wooden building sits comfortably upon a slope and a plain black hoverbike rests against the porch. The image reminds Keith of his shack back in the desert but despite how cold it is here compared to over there, a feeling of warmth spreads inside him at the sight of it.

“Is this place yours?” Keith asks as Shiro pulls out a key and proceeds up the steps to the front door. He wonders if he’s missed something because as far as he knows, Shiro’s family is from Tokyo and his grandma only owns one home. Stopping before he inserts the key into the lock, Shiro turns around to face Keith.

“Just for tonight, it’s ours,” he says. “I figured we could all use a real vacation from Voltron, so I thought it’d be nice if we slept somewhere other than inside the lion. Then tomorrow we can go to Tokyo and see my family. My parents are flying in to visit my grandma so they'll all be in town. This cabin is just a one night rental.”

“But how—when did you—?” Keith’s confusion must have looked especially silly because at his fumbling words, Shiro begins to chuckle.

“Well,” he starts, folding his arms and leaning back against the door, “while you were camping out and sulking in the training room and avoiding all of us—”

“I wasn’t sulking,” he says defensively. Shiro raises an eyebrow and Keith huffs and looks away. “Okay, maybe a little—but it wasn’t that serious.”

“Keith,” Shiro says in a disbelieving tone. “You skipped dinner like eight times in the span of two weeks.”

“And… your point is?”

“You've been basically living in the training deck and skipping meals while shutting us out and not talking to anyone about it,” Shiro lists off. “Seems fairly serious.”

Keith shrugs. He fails to see the problem in anything Shiro has brought up so far. If Keith had wanted to skip dinner in favor of the training room, then he had a right to do it. If he didn't want to talk about it, then he didn't need to talk about it. It’s as simple as that. It’s only problematic in other people’s eyes based on their own rules and logic, not his.

“Yeah, I figured,” Shiro sighs, turning back around with the correct key at hand. “There’s just no use convincing you.”

The lock clicks and he pushes the door open, allowing Keith to step in first. The inside of the cabin is as cozy as it looks on the outside with a shabby couch facing the fireplace and a small enclosed corner for the kitchen area. A Christmas tree stands off to the side in the living room already decked out with lights, baubles, and streamers. Shiro closes the door behind them as Keith slowly takes in the decor around them. 

“So as I was saying,” Shiro says, dropping their bags on the couch, “while you were skipping your meals, I asked Allura to open up a wormhole. I came back to Earth and spent a good day here making arrangements. That’s when I bought you the winter clothes and booked this place for Christmas Eve. It wasn’t easy, you know, it being Christmas Eve, but let’s just say I know a friend who knows a friend.”

“You did all this?” Keith turns his head to look at him, trying to think back to his last two weeks in the castle and wow, he _really_ cannot recall Shiro disappearing at all. “I—uh, I’m—”

“A simple thank you will suffice,” Shiro says with a laugh.

The whole time, Keith had thought Shiro would be going back home without question. Now, as he glances around the room and fiddles with the fraying ends of his scarf, he realizes with a small smile that Shiro had wanted to bring home to him all along.

“I—uh, I really—um,” Keith responds, trying but failing to keep his voice from cracking. Better give up now. “Thanks, Shiro.” 

Shiro beams at him and then walks into the kitchen.

“So, are you hungry yet?” he asks. He stops in front of the refrigerator and opens it to browse the options within.

“There’s food, too?” Keith wonders out loud. What hasn’t Shiro thought of?

“Friend of a friend,” Shiro reminds him, pulling out packed bento boxes. “I asked him to help me stock up yesterday before we arrived.”

“Shiro,” Keith says, a sudden thought occurring to him. His eyes shift down to the floor and a feeling of dread rises in him.

“What?” Shiro asks, looking worried. “You like fish, don’t you?”

“No, it’s just… I didn’t get you anything for Christmas,” Keith finishes in a hollow voice.

Perhaps Shiro is right about his behavior being slightly problematic in the past two weeks. In his stubbornness to avoid thinking about Shiro going home, Keith had completely neglected to actually care for the one person he cared about most. Shutting the team out was maybe not the best idea after all. Curse Shiro for always being right.

Shiro merely shrugs and walks back over to him in the living room.

“I know. But whether or not you got me anything for Christmas wouldn’t have changed any of my plans here,” he replies. “So it doesn’t really make a difference. As long as you’re present here with me, that’s present enough.”

Keith rolls his eyes at what is possibly the cheesiest thing Shiro could have said, pun included, but despite his usual scorn for sappy things, Keith still feels an involuntary flutter erupt in the pit of his stomach.

“Well, you should let me cook dinner, then,” Keith says. It isn’t an offer, but a request.

“It’s fine,” Shiro says, “I’ll take care of it.”

“I can still help,” he insists.

“Don’t worry about it,” Shiro says, putting an arm on his shoulder. Keith hates that it works every single time. “I just wanted to cook for you. It’ll be a nice surprise that way.”

“I—fine,” he says, crossing his arms and scowling. He’s still determined to at least try and do something special in return, but seeing as he has no means to buy a gift at this point, he’s at a loss for what he can do.

“Why don’t we eat this as a quick snack and rest first?” Shiro says, sitting down on the couch and gesturing for Keith to sit down next to him. “Then we can walk around outside and I’ll start cooking dinner after that, okay?”

“Okay,” Keith agrees, but when he takes a seat next to him, Keith spots a different set of keys lying on the coffee table and, upon realizing what they’re meant for, his mind shifts gears and a stroke of inspiration clicks into place.

* * *

They spend most of the afternoon after lunch walking around in the forest next to the cabin. Because the sun is out, it’s not nearly as cold as Keith supposes it could have been, but regardless, it takes a while for him to acclimate to the weather. For the first time, Keith learns how to build snowmen, and together with Shiro, they recreate each team member of Voltron. Keith isn’t sure if it’s because Shiro’s handiwork is just that amazing, but he finds it highly amusing that even in snowman form, Lance’s smirk somehow looks just as punchable as he does in real life. Either way, Keith has to hand it to Shiro for nailing the expressions so well because seeing their friends around them like this makes him feel a special sort of fondness. Not to mention, he was really impressed by the amount of time Shiro put into perfecting snowman Keith’s snow mullet and Coran’s mustache. 

At some point, once they’ve finished with the team’s snowmen and descended into trying to build a ridiculous-looking Haggar and even some Arusians, Shiro checks his watch and suggests they go back inside so that he can cook dinner.

“Hey, can I, uh, stay outside and finish some of these up?” Keith asks after giving Haggar two acorns for eyes.

“You’re having that much fun, huh?” he smiles, clapping his gloves together to get rid of the remaining snow left on them. Keith merely shrugs. Shiro looks up to examine the sky, then turns back to Keith.

“Well, it’s getting a bit late and the sun is going to set soon,” he says. “So don’t be too long, okay?”

“Of course,” Keith says, gathering another handful of snow in his hands and throwing Shiro a dirty look. “You won’t let me cook anyways.”

Shiro laughs and ruffles Keith’s hair. “You’ll let it go eventually.”

Keith’s eyes follow him as he walks back up the front steps of the cabin. When the door shuts behind him, Keith drops the ball of ice in his hands and makes his way over to the black hoverbike still leaning against the porch. Taking it by the handles, he lugs the vehicle away from the cabin and closer to the Black Lion—far enough so that Shiro can’t hear it. Pulling out the keys he snagged from the coffee table, he plugs it into the ignition and turns. At the familiar sound of an engine roaring to life, Keith closes his eyes with an internal purr of satisfaction. _Ah, yeah, that hit the spot._

Swinging his right leg over the bike, he settles himself in place and grips the handlebars. He isn’t exactly sure where he’ll find the nearest marketplace but he figures he can play it by ear, starting with the long winding road he had spotted from when they were flying above in the lion. Pulling the clutch lever and shifting into first gear with his foot, he sets the bike in motion and speeds forward.

It takes him some time, but eventually, he finds a path that leads into a nearby marketplace. It’s only when he arrives that he realizes he should have thought about the fact that it’s Christmas Eve and more than half the shops are all closed. Still, Keith knows he won’t feel at peace until he knows he’s at least put some effort into finding a gift for Shiro.

Upon arriving, he parks the bike and dismounts, his hands and face feeling numb from the wind chill of riding in the snow. He should have worn gloves that fully covered his hands like Shiro told him to but he didn’t want to part with his usual fingerless compression gloves. Only now when he begins to feel the frost biting hard at his cheeks does he realize he should have fully thought through how cold it would actually be out in the snow with the sun fading out. Too late for that now though. 

Keith pulls his scarf up to cover his nose and walks forward through the shops lining the small enclosed street. Although it is Christmas Eve, a good amount of tourists are still out and about, exploring and absorbing the local flavor. True to what Hokkaido is famous for, most of the stores only sell milk, ice cream, and other dairy products and dessert items, and while Keith is sure Shiro loves all those things, none of them make a decent Christmas gift.

The sun continues to set as Keith browses a promising-looking gift shop. Unfortunately, aside from all the touristy stuff—cow keychains and other typical “cutesy” souvenirs—there isn’t much of a selection. He figures he can only do the best with what he has, especially now that it’s getting dark and he wants to be able to find his way back and _boy_ , is he freezing down to the bones. So after grabbing a few delectable pastries from the bakery next door—Sapporo Nogakko, Nama chocolate, and Sanporoku—he decides to call it a night and heads over to the counter. As the cashier calculates the price of his items, Keith’s eyes fall upon a box full of mistletoe placed strategically at the front of the checkout line. _No_ , he thinks as he tries to shake the thought out of his head. It’s too sappy, especially for him.

“2500 yen,” the woman behind the counter says. Sifting through the slips of yen he took from Shiro’s bag when he wasn’t looking, Keith counts out the proper amount, then pauses.

 _Oh, why the hell not,_ he thinks as he grabs a sprig and adds it to his purchase. He’s sure he won’t regret it later anyways.

When he arrives back at the cabin, Shiro opens the front door before Keith can finish turning off the engine. His expression is a mixture of relief and annoyance, and as he walks down the steps towards Keith, Keith can’t help but feel a strong sense of familiarity warming his heart.

“Where’d you go?” he asks. Killing the engine, Keith swings his leg off the bike. He can barely feel his hands at this point and he knows there’s a chance Shiro will fret when he realizes how Keith has been non-stop shivering since he began the ride back here.

“S-sorry,” he says through chattering teeth, even though he isn’t sorry at all. His voice is muffled behind the scarf he’s pulled up to his nose. “I just—h-had to—”

“I was in the middle of cooking when I realized that you hadn’t come back yet,” Shiro says, looking worried. “I checked the lion and around the trees before I realized what was missing.”

He points a thumb at the hoverbike and gives Keith a pointed look.

“Oh, right,” he says, unable to stop himself from smirking. “So uh… you’re not gonna make me sleep on the couch tonight, are you?”

“We’ll see,” Shiro replies, though his eyes are twinkling with mirth. Then, reaching out to touch Keith’s forehead, asks, “Are you okay? You’re completely frozen. Where did you go?”

“To the nearby market,” he answers, holding out the bag of pastries. “I had to at least do something for you for Christmas.”

“So you decided to try and get hypothermia,” Shiro says, bemused, taking the bag from his hand. “Why do you do this to yourself?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll pay you back for the gifts I bought you later,” Keith says. “Not many shops were open though so I just got a few things here and there."

“What, you—oh, man, you took some bills from me didn’t you?” Shiro says with a chuckle as he begins to peruse the contents of the bag. Keith’s ego swells with pride when he sees that Shiro looks too impressed to be angry about this. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I’m cold,” Keith responds flatly, to which Shiro laughs.

“Well, that can be remedied,” he says with a knowing look as he pulls out the sprig of mistletoe. Keith leans back against the hoverbike as Shiro steps closer and holds the small stem above them.

“So you’re not mad?” Keith asks, eyeing the mistletoe. Shiro takes another step closer and leans over him with a smug smile, his face inches away from Keith’s.

“As long as you come back home in the end,” he says. Lifting a hand, he pulls Keith’s scarf down from his nose and covers his mouth with his own. After being outside in the cold for so long, Shiro’s lips feel warm and inviting, and as the numbness in Keith’s skin slowly thaws away due to their heated breaths, he responds with equal enthusiasm, grabbing a fistful of Shiro’s coat and pulling him in closer.

When Shiro pulls away, he leans his forehead against Keith’s and cradles his face in the palm of his hands to keep him from getting cold again.

“Merry Christmas,” Shiro says under his breath and Keith can hear the smile in his voice.

“Merry Christmas,” Keith replies, then looking up into his eyes, adds, “Can we go inside now?”

“Ever the mood killer,” Shiro chuckles, pressing his lips to Keith’s forehead.

Keith grins and nuzzles their noses together. “Thank you for bringing me home for the holidays.”

“It wouldn’t be home without you,” Shiro replies, squeezing Keith’s hand.

As they slowly make their way back towards the cabin, Keith feels a silent peace settling upon him. Although the past few months of living among the stars has made Earth feel less familiar to him, seeing Shiro by his side and feeling his warmth as he wraps an arm around him reminds Keith that as long as they have each other, he’ll always have a place he can call home.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on my tumblr, [flusteredkeith](https://www.flusteredkeith.tumblr.com)! :)


End file.
